The  Preparation  ^\\v 

OF 

Modern  Language  Teachers 

FOR 

American  Institutions. 


BY 

E.  H.  BABBITT. 


READ  BEFORE  THE  MODERN  LANGUAGE  ASSOCIATION, 
DECEMBER,  1891. 


NEW  YORK: 

Press  of  Styles  & Cash,  77  Eighth  Avenue. 


i 


The 

Preparation  of  Modern  Language  Teachers 
for  American  Institutions. 


The  best  teacher  of  modern  languages  for  some  purposes 
requires  no  .conscious  preparation  at  all.  For  all  children  be- 
low the  age  at  which  they  enter  our  secondary  schools,  the 
objective  point  is  the  ability  to  speak  the  language — an  art 
merely,  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  any  scientific  knowledge, 
and  which  is  best  acquired  from  a French  or  German  nurse- 
maid, or  some  such  person,  to  whom  the  language  is  an  inherit- 
ance, and  its  fluent  use  a necessity  of  nature. 

The  lowest  grade  in  our  educational  system  where  we  find 
work  in  modern  languages  for  which  professional  teachers 
need  professional  preparation,  is  in  the  secondary  schools. 
Here  we  meet  at  once  the  commonest  problem  of  all  which  we 
have  to  consider  in  our  work.  Given  a class  of  boys  or  young 
men,  who  have  perhaps  two  years  on  an  average  to  study  a 
modern  language,  how  shall  we  shape  our  instruction  so  that 
they  may  get  the  best  returns  from  the  work  they  can  do  in 
that  limited  time?  It  seems  to  be  generally  agreed  that 
a practical  reading  knowledge  of  the  language  is  the  main  end 
for  such  students,  both  because  it  is  the  most  valuable  acquisi- 
tion that  can  be  made  in  the  time  to  spare,  and  because,  in 
ordinary  circumstances,  this  line  of  work  forms  the  only  feasi- 
ble basis  for  uniform  and  successful  class-room  instruction.  At 
the  same  time  this  plan  allows  those  students  who  wish  to  pur- 
sue the  study  of  the  language  further,  in  other  lines,  to  use  all 
the  work  they  have  already  done,  and  also  allows  full  scope 
for  the  really  very  valuable  mental  discipline  to  which  I called 
attention  in  my  paper  last  year.* 


* Publications , Vol.  VI.,  No.  1. 


2 


In  many  cases  this  practical  elementary  work  is  not  begun 
till  after  the  students  are  in  college.  Here  we  meet  students 
who  have  already  had  a good  deal  of  linguistic  training  in 
their  study  of  the  classics,  and  thus  differ  from  the  boys  in  the 
secondary  and  scientific  schools,  to  whom  a foreign  language 
is  a new  thing.  For  instance,  with  a class  of  college  students 
who  have  done  the  usual  amount  of  thinking  over  their  con- 
ditional sentences  in  Latin  and  Greek,  the  subject  of  condi- 
tional sentences  in  German  can  be  disposed  of  in  a lesson  or 
two;  but  a class  of  boys  who  meet  for  the  first  time  this  mat- 
ter of  general  grammar  must  spend  weeks  in  getting  it  cleared 
up,  whatever  the  language  may  be  that  furnishes  fhe  material 
for  study.  Much  more  can  therefore  be  expected  in  the  way  of 
quantity  and  quality  of  work  from  college  students  than  from 
the  others  referred  to ; it  is  quite  possible  to  give  a class  of  them 
a sufficient  knowledge  of  French  in  one  year,  or  of  German  in 
two  years,  to  enable  them  to  use  text-books  in  those  languages. 

The  majority  of  our  college  students  never  go  beyond  this 
point  in  the  subject.  Those  who  do,  pursue  it  either  as  a col- 
lege or  a university  study — as  a factor  in  a general  liberal  edu- 
cation, or  with  the  intention  of  teaching  the  subject.  For  the 
larger  class  who  pursue  it  as  a culture-study,  several  lines  of 
work  are  possible.  Practice  in  expression  in  a foreign 
language,  especially  French,  gives  excellent  discipline  for  the 
linguistic  sense.  Philology  proper  belongs  rather  to  the  uni- 
versity side  of  the  subject,  but  an  enthusiastic  teacher  often 
draws  college  students  into  it  with  good  results.  But  the  great- 
est part  by  far  of  the  instruction  for  this  class  of  students  comes 
under  the  head  of  that  much-abused  word,  literature. 

There  is  no  line  of  study  that  will  make  a college  sopho- 
more into  a competent  literary  critic.  Nothing  will  do  that 
but  a certain  number  of  years  spent  in  contact  with  the  life 
and  thought  of  the  world,  and  a proper  use  and  development 
of  a sound  judgment  which  must  be  present  to  begin  with. 
And  yet  there  is  no  more  responsive  soil  on  which  to  sow 
the  seeds  of  culture  than  the  mind  of  a student  at  this  age,  and 
few  better  opportunities  for  doing  so  than  come  from  just  such 
courses  as  are  given  in  the  third  and  fourth  year  work  in 


< 


3 


modern  languages  at  our  colleges — courses  based  on  the  study 
of  the  best  works  written  in  those  languages,  with  all  the  side- 
lights from  philology,  literary  criticism,  philosophy  and  history, 
which  the  teacher  can  bring  to  bear  from  all  the  resources  of 
his  own  study  and  his  own  intellectual  life. 

As  to  university  instruction,  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that 
it  must  be  of  the  most  thorough  and  special  kind.  The  future 
teacher  must  have  the  discipline  of  feeling  bottom  somewhere 
in  the  sea  of  learning.  Now  as  the  bottom  comes  nearer  the 
surface  in  the  region  of  philology  than  elsewhere  in  our  de- 
partment, students  naturally  turn  their  attention  largely  in 
that  direction.  This  is  legitimate,  if  only  one  is  sure  of  a 
sufficient  intellectual  stature  to  be  able  to  stand  on  that  bottom 
and  have  a respectable  mental  horizon. 

Viewed  from  the  teacher’s  standpoint,  university  work  in 
the  modern  languages  in  this  country  forms  but  an  almost  in- 
finitesimal part  of  the  whole  body  of  work  in  the  field.  In 
very  many  of  our  colleges  the  instruction  does  not  go  beyond 
elementary  work.  And  even  in  those  few  institutions  where 
real  university  work  is  done,  the  amount  of  work  in  this  par 
ticular  field  is  less  than  in  others,  on  account  of  the  special 
reasons  for  studying  in  this  line  abroad.  The  records  of  the 
work  done  in  modern  languages  at  our  universities  will  show 
that  very  little  of  it  is  beyond  the  grade  of  college  work,  and 
that  there  is  seldom  a genuine  demand  for  any  advanced 
course  which  cannot  perfectly  well  be  given  by  any  teacher 
who  is  properly  prepared  for  this  college  work. 

A proper  preparation  for  college  teaching  means,  however, 
much  more  than  is  generally  demanded  by  those  who  employ 
teachers.  I wish  to  call  your  attention  to  an  apparently 
trivial  matter  which  has  unexpectedly  deep  significance  on 
this  point. 

It  is  a commonplace  to  all  members  of  this  Association, 
that  knowing  how  to  speak  a language  and  knowing  how  to 
read  it  are  too  very  different  things.  It  sounds  like  a sweep- 
ing statement  to  say  that  no  one  who  has  not  taught  the  sub- 
ject knows  how  great  this  difference  really  is,  but  I will  even 
venture  to  say  that  many  who  are  teachers  of  modern  languages 


4 


fail  to  see  tlie  importance  of  the  distinction.  Speaking  a lan- 
guage is  as  purely  an  art  as  is  playing  a musical  instrument.  The 
art  of  speaking  a language  not  one’s  own  is  useful  to  many 
people  who  wish  to  communicate  with  those  who  speak  it ; it 
is  further  regarded  as  a pretty  accomplishment  for  young 
ladies  and  others  who  may  possibly  make  little  or  no  practical 
use  of  it.  This  art  has  been  taught  for  centuries  by  a large 
and  more  or  less  respectable  body  of  persons,  and  their  instruc- 
tion has  its  traditions  and  methods,  which  are  embodied  in 
text-books  of  the  Ollendorf  kind. 

Now,  when  some  years  ago  there  arose  a general  demand 
for  instruction  in  modern  languages  in  our  colleges,  the  col- 
lege authorities  went  to  the  young  ladies’  boarding-schools,  or 
wherever  these  foreign  language  teachers  were  to  be  found, 
and  set  the  best  they  could  get  of  them  to  doing  the  work  in 
the  colleges.  They  brought  their  traditions  with  them,  and 
continued  to  emphasize  the  education  of  the  ear,  and  to  quar- 
rel, with  the  intolerance  of  all  empiricists,  over  minor  matters 
of  accent  and  pronunciation.  Their  methods  were  accepted 
generally  without  question,  and  held  the  field  for  a long  time, 
as  they  do  still  among  the  laity. 

Occasionally,  however,  for  lack  of  a Frenchman  or  Ger- 
man to  teach  his  language,  an  American  teacher  who  had  per- 
haps been  abroad,  or  had  more  than  the  usual  amount  of 
instruction  in  a modern  language,  was  set  to  teaching  it. 
Such  teachers,  being  less  sure  of  their  knowledge  of  the 
foreign  language  than  of  English,  did  their  work  on  a trans- 
lation basis  and  taught  their  pupils  to  read,  rather  than  speak, 
the  language  ; and  the  reading  knowledge  of  students  taught 
in  this  way  was  often  better  than  that  of  those  who  had  spent 
much  more  time  under  the  old  plan.  Whatever  readiness  in 
speaking  the  latter  might  have  acquired  did  not  appear  under 
any  examination  test,  nor  as  meeting  any  need  in  the  way  of 
foundation  for  further  studies.  Now,  the  fact  that  the  pupils 
of  any  fair  teacher  who  had  a smattering  of  a foreign  language 
could  meet  the  tests  prepared  by  those  who  held  the  position 
of  the  only  authorities  on  the  subject,  and  the  fact  that  these 
latter  treated  their  work  from  the  same  point  of  view  that 


5 


musicians  and  writing-masters  treat  theirs,  tended  to  throw 
the  whole  line  of  work  into  disrepute,  and  to  establish  the 
impression  which,  as  I said  above,  is  still  in  full  force  among 
the  laity  (to  which  we  may  safely  reckon  most  college  trustees 
and  many  college  presidents),  that  any  kind  of  a “ Dutchman” 
or  “ dago,”  or  broken-down  minister,  is  competent  to  give 
what  has  seemed  to  be  the  recognized  quality  of  instruction  in 
the  subject.  This  impression  still  prevails  to  a lamentable 
extent  in  many  quarters,  but  the  day  of  better  things  is  com- 
ing, and  the  next  generation  of  modern  language  teachers 
will  do  better  work  than  the  present  one. 

The  only  effective  teacher  in  any  field  is  the  one  who  has 
thoroughly  taken  his  professional  bearings — who  has  adopted 
the  work  from  the  honest  conviction  that  ‘he  is  fitted  by 
nature  to  do  it,  and  intends  to  make  it  his  life-work.  A 
teacher  who  is  an  enthusiast  in  his  subject  is  better  than  one 
who  is  not,  but  no  amount  of  enthusiasm  for  a subject  can 
blind  a true  teacher  to  the  fundamental  fact  of  his  calling — 
fthat  the  subject  is  taught  for  its  effect  on  the  minds  of  his 
pupils,  not  that  their  minds  exist  as  a medium  for  propagating  i 
knowledge  of  the  subject.  The  field  of  modern  languages' 
belongs  emphatically  to  the  pedagogue  rather  than  to  the 
scientific  enthusiast.  JSTine-tenths  of  the  work  done  must 
always  be  of  an  elementary  nature.  Such  work  involves  a 
great  deal  of  drudgery,  from  which  in  itself  there  is  no  legiti 
mate  escape.  The  standard  of  perfection  in  the  practical 
knowledge  of  a modern  language  is  so  evident  and  so  near  at 
hand,  that  any  man  of  scholarly  tendencies  is  sure  to  be  so 
far  in  advance  of  his  pupils  that  he  is  liable  to  chafe  under 
the  unavoidable  repetitions  and  task-work,  utdess  his  peda- 
gogical is  greater  than  his  scientific  interest — unless  his  subject- 
matter  is  merely  a means  to  an  end,  and  his  greatest  profes- 
sional satisfaction  comes  from  turning  out  each  year’s  class  a 
little  better  trained  than  the  one  before  it. 

But  a language  teacher  has  some  relief  from  drudgery 
which  a teacher  of  mathematics,  for  instance,  has  not.  The 
most  elementary  language-study  has  a connection  with  human 
thought  and  interest  which  no  study  of  mere  things  can  have ; 


6 


and  thus  even  here,  though  of  course  in  a much  greater 
degree  as  we  approach  literature  rather  than  mere  language- 
drill,  the  personality  of  the  teacher  comes  into  play  as  a 
culturing  factor.  A teacher  is  capable  of  inspiring  and 
uplifting  a class  just  about  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  his 
personality  as  a man  of  culture.  There  is  no  field  in  the  pro- 
fession where  a man  of  thoroughly  catholic  mind  and  a sure 
sense  of  the  meaning  of  the  world’s  thought  can  do  more 
to  bring  a class  up  from  their  intellectual  level  toward  his 
own  ; and  none  where  a mere  pedant,  who  has  grammatical  or 
philological  hobbies  to  ride,  can  waste  more  golden  opportuni- 
ties. And  yet  few  subjects  make  so  great  demands  upon  the 
teacher  in  the  way  of  wide  and  definite  knowledge.  The 
standard  of  correct  use  for  a language  is  of  course  an  empirical 
matter,  but  just  for  that  reason  those  who  uphold  the  standard 
are  the  more  intolerant  of  variations  from  it.  The  amount  of 
practical  ability  in  handling  a language  required  from  a 
teacher  is  much  greater  in  the  case  of  living  than  of  dead 
languages.  No  teacher  of  a modern  language  can  be  thor- 
oughly efficient  unless  his  command  of  it  as  a practical 
medium  of  thought  is  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  think  in  it 
and  feel  its  idiom  pretty  thoroughly  his  own. 

And,  on  the  other  hand — aside  from  the  fact  that  no 
person  can  manage  a class  of  American  boys  unless  he  can 
think  in  English  as  readily  as  they  can — no  one  can  make 
translation  work  of  any  value  to  his  pupils  on  its  most  valuable 
side,  unless  his  English  is  really  good  English — better  than 
theirs  is  likely  to  be,  as  boys  on  the  average  come  to  us  now. 

And  last,  but  not  least,  no  teacher  can  be  thoroughly 
inspiring  and  useful  to  his  pupils  whose  knowledge  of  his 
subject  is  not  so  thorough  and  extensive  as  to  give  them  a 
genuine  respect  fur  his  attainments  as  a scholar.  It  is  not  so 
very  important  whether  his  special  work  has  been  done  in  the 
exact  lines  of  his  teaching,  provided  his  knowledge  in  those 
lines  is  sufficient  to  meet  completely  all  questions  that 
may  arise.  He  ought,  however,  to  know  the  language  he  is 
teaching,  not  only  practically,  but  also  historically,  to  be 
familiar  with  the  nearest  related  languages,  and,  on  the 


7 


literary  side,  to  have  a good  notion  of  the  chapter  in  human 
life  and  thought  which  produced  the  wTorks  he  is  to  study.  It 
is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  no  live  teacher  will  let  a year 
pass  without  making  some  additions  to  this  fund  of  exact 
knowledge  which  he  possesses  and  can  use  in  his  work. 

I do  not  believe  that  a teacher  can  be  notably  deficient  in 
any  of  the  five  directions  that  I have  indicated,  without  im- 
pairing seriously  his  professional  usefulness — so  seriously  as  to 
shut  him  out  from  the  very  foremost  rank  in  the  profession. 
The  discussion  of  the  first  of  these  five  heads  belongs,  how- 
ever, rather  to  a paper  on  the  preparation  of  teachers  in  gen- 
eral than  here.  This  is  also  true  of  the  second,  except  that 
breadth  of  culture  in  the  personality  of  the  teacher  counts  for 
more  here  than  in  fields  which  have  to  do  more  with 
things,  and  less  with  human  relations,  and  that  a special  topic 
arises  out  of  the  question  of  foreign-born  teachers. 

To  the  unprofessional  mind,  it  seems  to  be  almost  a matter 
of  course  that  the  person  who  knows  a language  best  is  one  to 
whom  it  is  the  mother-tongue,  and  therefore  that  such  persons 
should  naturally  teach  it.  If,  however,  we  look  to  those 
countries  where  the  science  of  education  has  been  longest  and 
most  carefully  studied,  we  find  the  settled  policy  of  employ- 
ing natives  who  have  been  abroad  to  study  modern  foreign 
languages,  to  teach  those  languages  in  the  schools.  And  in 
spite  of  the  stubborn  resistance  of  the  lay  mind,  which  I have 
referred  to  already,  this  policy  is  rapidly  gaining  ground  in 
the  higher  institutions  in  this  country.  I cannot  go  exhaus- 
tively into  the  reason  for  this  course,  but  some  of  the  con- 
siderations are  as  follows : A person  who  comes  to  a country 
at  an  adult  age  is  a foreigner,  and  generally  remains  a 
foreigner  in  his  ways  of  thinking  and  feeling  and  living.  I 
said  before  that  the  personality  of  the  teacher  is  the  most  im- 
portant factor  in  his  professional  activity  ; if  his  personality  is 
such  that  it  fails  to  find  the  best  points  of  touch  with  the 
personalities  of  his  students,  then  he  fails  to  get  that  sympa- 
thetic community  of  thought  on  which  so  much  depends. 
And  if,  as  is  so  often  the  case  with  foreign-born  teachers,  he 
never  acquires  that  command  of  English  which  makes  him 


8 


superior  to  them  in  their  own  medium  of  thought ; he  remains 
to  that  extent  under  a handicap  which  impairs  his  usefulness. 
These  considerations  do  not  apply,  be  it  observed,  to  men  who 
come  to  this  country  young  enough  to  become  thoroughly 
Americanized  in  character  and  language  before  they  enter 
upon  their  work.  Some  of  our  very  best  teachers  belong  to 
this  class  of  men. 

Another  point,  perhaps  less  well  understood,  but  of  more 
general  application,  may  be  illustrated  by  a case  which  came 
under  my  own  observation.  A careful  and  conscientious 
teacher,  a German  by  birth  and  education,  who  had  learned 
French  at  school  as  a foreign  language,  taught  it,  as  was  ad- 
mitted by  all,  much  better  than  German,  his  mother-tongue, 
which  he  undoubtedly  spoke,  and  used  in  every  way,  much 
better  than  French.  It  is  self-evident  that  a man  who  has 
been  driven  in  a close  carriage  through  the  streets  of  a city 
cannot  direct  another  regarding  them  so  well  as  one  who  has 
made  his  way  on  foot,  with  map  in  hand.  The  fact  that  a 
person  who  has  acquired  any  knowledge  without  being  obliged 
to  give  any  thought  to  the  process,  cannot  impart  that  knowl- 
edge so  well  as  one  who  has  followed  the  steps,  is  always  a 
great  drawback  to  the  effective  teaching  of  a language  by  those 
to  whom  it  is  the  mother-tongue.  This  drawback  can  be 
overcome  only  by  long  practice  in  actual  teaching ; and  during 
the  process  the  pupils  must  inevitably  suffer.  It  is  these 
difficulties  of  adjustment  which  have  brought  about,  through 
the  extensive  employment  of  foreigners  to  teach  their  languages 
in  our  schools,  the  unsatisfactory  conditions  as  to  the  pace  of 
work  to  which  I referred  last  year,  and  it  is  largely  the  in- 
crease in  the  employment  of  those  who  are  Americans  by 
education  at  least,  which  is  leading  to  an  improvement  in  this 
respect.  The  matter  is  after  all  a question  of  individuals,  and 
a good  deal  might  be  said  on  the  text  that  a man  who  is  good 
for  anything  is  likely  to  find  employment  at  home,  and  so  the 
men  we  are  likely  to  get  to  teach  in  our  schools  are  of  a better 
grade  if  they  are  of  home  production. 

It  seems  on  the  whole  then  to  be  a reasonable  demand  that 
our  modern  language  teachers  shall  have  received  their  gen- 


9 


eral  education  in  our  country,  or  at  least  enough  of  it  to  be 
thoroughly  in  touch  with  our  institutions  and  with  the  spirit 
of  our  students,  and  to  have  an  unhampered  use  of  the  English 
language. 

For  an  American  to  acquire  a thorough  practical  knowl- 
edge of  a foreign  language,  only  one  course  is  adequate,  lie 
must  live  a considerable  time  in  the  country  where  it  is  spoken. 
There  is  no  possible  substitute  which  will  accomplish  this 
object.  Any  attempt  to  create  a French  or  German  atmo- 
sphere in  this  country  is  pretty  sure  to  be  a failure.  Take 
into  consideration  only  the  relatively  unimportant  matter  of 
pronunciation  ; however  perfect  a pronunciation  a foreigner 
may  bring  to  this  country,  a very  few  years’  residence  here 
will  almost  invariably  give  it  an  English  shading,  which 
becomes  stronger  the  more  he  speaks  English,  and  the  more 
he  uses  his  own  language  among  those  who  speak  it  with  an 
English  accent.*  In  a circle  made  up  of  these  two  classes  of 
people,  it  is  perfectly  possible  for  an  American  to  acquire  a 
startling  fluency  in  a sort  of  French  “ after  the  scole  of  Strat- 
ford-atte-Bowe,”  which  no  Frenchman  can  understand  unless 
(like  most  Paris  shopkeepers)  he  knows  English  pretty  well, 
and  which  years  of  residence  in  Paris  will  never  correct.  The 
phonetic  facts  of  the  pronunciation  of  a foreign  language 
are  never  thoroughly  understood  until  one  has  lived  among 
those  who  speak  that  language  and  no  other.  The  same 
relation  of  things  holds  in  regard  to  the  use  of  words  and 
idioms;  differences  in  social  life,  differences  in  the  material 
conditions  of  things,  which  cause  words  to  connote  other 
ideas  than  the  words  used  to  render  them,  cannot  be  thorough- 
ly felt,  and  a teacher  cannot  be  sure  of  his  ground  in  dealing 
with  them  till  he  has  lived  among  both  sets  of  the  conditions 
which  determine  these  differences.  No  man  is  master  of  a 
language  until  he  can  think  in  it,  and  no  one  really  thinks  in  a 
language  unless  he  has  lived  a fair  length  of  time  where  it  is 
the  recognized  medium  of  thought. 

* A case  in  point  is  that  of  two  ladies,  both  college  graduates,  who  “spoke  French 
very  well.”  They  went  to  hear  a lecture  by  M.  Coquelin,  when  he  was  in  this  country. 
As  they  came  out,  one  was  heard  to  say  “ How  much  of  it  could  you  understand  ? ” 

“ Isn’t  it  funny,”  said  the  other,  “ I can  understand  Professor ’s  lectures  on  French 

Literature  perfectly , but  I didn’t  understand  a single  thing  to-day.” 


10 


On  higher  ground,  too,  this  matter  is  important.  The 
modern  language  teacher  is  just  now,  in  this  country,  almost 
above  other  members  of  his  profession,  the  apostle  of  toler- 
ance and  the  foe  of  narrowness  in  all  its  shapes, — religious, 
political  and  social.  I need  only  to  touch  this  point  to  remind 
any  one  who  has  lived  abroad  of  the  inevitable  logic  of 
circumstances  which  brings  this  about.  Take  the  most  proper 
boarding-school  mistress,  and  the  most  argument-proof  teacher 
from  a sectarian  Western  college,  who  have  acquired  their 
French  and  German  from  the  most  carefully  expurgated 
editions,  and  taught  accordingly — let  them  go  abroad  and 
have  every  means  to  follow  out  the  nearest  desire  of  their 
hearts ; let  her  spend  her  whole  time  in  Paris  and  divide  it 
between  her  American  friends  and  the  shops,  seeing  as  little  of 
those  horrid  Frenchmen  as  possible,  and  come  home  with  twelve 
trunks  full  of  gowns,  and  let  him  spend  his  in  a carefully 
selected  German-American  pension  in  a university  town, 
divide  it  between  his  landlady’s  daughters  and  the  lecture- 
rooms,  and  come  home  with  a long  beard  and  a Ph.D. — and 
yet  both  of  them,  in  spite  of  themselves,  even  if  they  still 
uphold  their  early  principles  that  the  theatre  is  on  the  straight 
road  to  perdition,  and  that  beer  is  a deadly  poison,  will  have 
acquired  a new  and  a broader  view  of  human  life,  and  their 
pupils  will  get  good  from  the  change.  And  if  you  send  over  a 
young  man  of  good  parts,  with  an  honest  purpose  to  see  all 
the  sides  of  life  he  can,  and  sufficient  culture  already  in  stock 
to  interpret  what  he  sees,  he  will  come  home  with  convictions 
which  make  him  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  at  least  a silent  force 
opposed  to  sectarian  intolerance,  u spread-eagle  ” politics,  and 
Philistinism  in  every  form. 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  matter  of  residence  abroad  is  as 
important  for  us  as  is  laboratory  work  for  a chemist,  or  dis- 
section for  a physician.  There  is  no  valid  reason  why  it 
should  not  be  considered  a part  of  the  preparation  in  the 
teacher’s  case  as  essential  as  the  practical  work  in  the  other 
cases,  and  insisted  on  as  such  by  those  who  employ  teachers. 

I have  already  hinted  at  the  fact  that  living  in  a country 
and  studying  practically  the  language  and  life  of  the  people  is 


11 


by  no  means  the  same  thing  as  living  there  and  devoting  one’s 
self  to  scientific  study.  In  fact  the  two  things  are  more  or 
less  antagonistic.  The  more  a person  sees  of  the  various  sides 
of  life  in  a foreign  country  the  less  time  he  has  in  which  to  shut 
himself  up  with  his  books,  and  vice  versa.  The  conscientious 
American  student  is  rather  prone  to  make  the  mistake  of  giv- 
ing relatively  too  much  time  to  his  books,  and  thereby  missing 
the  stimulus  of  intellectual  fellowship,  which  is  so  great  an 
element  in  European  universities,  but  which  our  students  can- 
not avail  themselves  of  unless  they  reduce  the  book  study  for 
the  first  semester  to  a minimum,  and  devote  themselves  to 
getting  en  rapport  with  the  social  side  of  life  and  the 
language  as  a practical  matter.  After  a student  has  done 
this,  and  not  till  then,  he  is  ready  to  say  whether  it  is  better 
for  him  to  make  his  special  studies  abroad  or  at  home.  In 
most  cases  it  will  be  found  that  it  makes  surprisingly  little 
difference.  There  are  on  both  sides  of  the  water  competent 
professors  and  ample  libraries;*  the  work  to  be  done  by  the 
student  is  largely  the  same  wherever  he  is,  and  it  is  generally 
a question  chiefly  of  individual  instruction  and  the  accessibility 
of  material.  In  general,  the  Germans  excel  in  thoroughness, 
and  the  Americans  in  economy  of  work.  The  student  learns 
in  Germany  to  shrink  from  no  amount  of  work  that  is  necces- 
sary  to  get  to  the  bottom  of  a matter,  and  learns  in  America 
to  eliminate  intelligently  that  which  is  unnecessary.  Both 
habits  are  valuable,  and  study  in  both  countries  is  valuable  for 
the  purpose  of  forming  both  habits.  An  American,  however, 
who  goes  to  Germany  without  sufficient  maturity  and  indi- 
viduality to  steer  his  own  course,  is  very  liable  to  fall  under 
the  influence  of  German  methods  of  work  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  put  him  under  a disadvantage  when  he  comes  back  to 
work  under  American  conditions. 

A thorough  and  safe  course  would  be  somewhat  as  follows  : 
Let  a student,  having  given  due  attention  to  the  modern 
languages  as  an  undergraduate,  go  to  Berlin  or  Paris  and 


* As  things  are  now  organized  in  Europe,  there  are  better  opportunities  there  for 
students  of  the  Germanic  than  of  the  Romance  languages,  and  it  is  therefore  entirely 
natural  that  more  graduate  students  are  found  at  American  universities  in  the  latter 
subject  than  in  the  former. 


12 


spend  a year,  as  much  as  possible  among  the  people  and  away 
from  other  Americans,  reading  newspapers  more  than  text- 
books, but  hearing  lectures  and  cultivating  the  society  of  the 
native  students,  and  learning  how  things  are  done  at  the 
university.  Then  let  him  come  home  and  take  a thorough 
course  in  his  subject  at  a good  American  university  for  a year 
or  two,  and  finally  go  back  and  prepare  his  thesis  under  a 
German  professor,  or  do  some  original  work  of  a scholarly 
kind,  and  at  the  same  time  put  the  final  touches  on  his  practi- 
cal knowledge  of  the  language  he  is  to  teach. 

Such  a course  would  cover  the  essential  points  which  I 
have  emphasized,  as  far  as  any  course  of  study  can  do  it.  Of 
course,  after  all,  teachers  are  born  and  not  made,  and  the 
talent  for  imparting  knowledge  must  be  assumed  at  the  out- 
set. There  is  no  way  to  prove  its  possession  except  a record 
of  successful  teaching.  A bachelor’s  degree  from  a reputable 
American  institution  is  some  guarantee  of  a proper  amount  of 
general  culture,  and  of  an  adequate  knowledge  of  English, 
while  such  a course  of  foreign  study  as  I have  indicated 
answers  for  a scientific  and  practical  knowledge  of  the 
language  to  be  taught. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  time  has  now  come  when  those 
who  employ  modern  language  teachers  may  insist  upon  the 
thoroughness  of  preparation  which  I have  outlined,  and  on 
the  other  hand  that  teachers  may  insist  upon  such  compen- 
sation as  makes  it  worth  while  to  attain  such  preparation. 


